Please Remember Me (Part 1)
by Otakamerd
Summary: When what seemed like a standard trip to Tartarus takes a turn for the worst, Minato Arisato ends up almost sacrificing himself to protect Yukari Takeba. Instead of dying, he survives but loses his memory. Having forgotten everything he felt for Yukari, will she be able to make him fall in love with her again or will he fall in love with another?


"Junpei, look out!" An exhausted Yukari called out to her friend

Thanks to Yukari's warning, Junpei barely managed to summon his Persona to block the attack but the sheer impact of the attack was enough to knock him down to the ground. The shadows attention was now entirely focused on the downed Junpei.

Akihiko rushed the monster with a physical blow from his Persona while Minato summoned his Persona to set it alight with a shot of Agi, neither of which seemed to do anything besides moving its focus to them.

"Damn it's a really strong one, didn't even flinch…" Akihiko said, sweating from overexertion.

What appeared to be a normal Summer night in Tartarus for the SEES Investigation Team had become a desperate fight for their lives as the Reaper suddenly appears and attacks the group while they were disadvantaged. From what we know, the layout of Tartarus changes drastically in accordance to weather and this night, the rain was heavy and loud with thunder and lightning. They didn't want to investigate but the next full moon was not far.

As the group watched in fear, Fuuka warned them using her Persona "Be careful, I can feel a deathly presence from that shadow" she gasped in panic "I can't analyse it, you need to escape!"

"Yukari, can you heal Junpei?" Minato asked calmly

She simply nodded and summoned Io as she began healing Junpei's wounds "I'll need some time to heal him completely" the brunette explained, disappointedly.

"I'll protect you, heal him and we'll make a break for the stairs" he reassured her as he pulled out a small bead from his pocket "Once we make it, I'll use this to return us to the entrance" he said optimistically

Akihiko was really on the ropes; he had been keeping the Reaper busy while the rest of his friends formulated a plan. Minato gave one last look at Yukari before turning towards the shadow, summoning Persona after Persona to push the Reaper back, away from his comrades – giving them all time to prepare.

"Minato, I've finished healing him!" Yukari called out, noticing that the shadow seemed to turn around completely when she spoke those words, it slowly moved over to the unprotected brunette, unable to force it away with her attacks, the shadow was focused solely on her, ignoring the others. Firing arrows at it did little more than anger it as it brought her to her knees with, not only tearing her clothes but also her spirit. She simply accepted her fate and spoke what she thought to be her last words.

"Minato-san, please take Junpei and escape. Leave me behind" she cried out, tears dripping onto the ground, she wanted to be brave even in the face of death, she didn't want him to see her like this.

Minato went ice cold, his usual cool demeanour was replaced with obvious dread as he desperately tried to convince her to stay strong "Yukari, don't you dare give up on me, stand up and run to me. I'm not leaving without you" he said, voice wavering.

Yukari slowly lifted her head, showing her exhausted and damaged face, eyes flooding with tears turned black from her mascara, even though she was barely able to get the words out, she spoke directly to Minato

"I… I've always loved you Minato-san, promise me you'll make someone as happy as you made me" she said with a shrill whimper before lowering her head.

He didn't say a word but it was obvious that he shared her feelings. In a split second, he made a decision. He dashed towards her, shielding her small from the blow. Yukari raised her head with a gasp. Although the Reaper had missed Yukari, it managed to leave a severe blow to the side of Minato's head, blood flowed freely from the wound to his head pouring onto Yukari's hands and leaving a pool of blood in her lap as she tried desperately to reach out to him and stop the bleeding in any way she could. Minato was drifting in and out of consciousness, he couldn't see a thing and could barely hear anyone either; even his Persona seemed to be fading in and out of existence

"Mitsuru, you and Yamagishi need to get down here down, it's a disaster. Arisato is in critical condition" Akihiko called to the others.

The words critical condition kept ringing in Yukari's ears, despite all the conversation happening – Yukari was unresponsive to everyone around her, when the bleeding proved too much for her to repel, she simply began caressing his head, all she had left was her words as she began speaking to him, not caring whether he could hear her or not.

"Hey, do you remember how you promised to be my date to the Summer Festival with me? We were going to get Takoyaki and I was even going to wear my Yukata – I'm so jealous of Mitsuru and Fuuka, they looked so natural in theirs, I feel like I've been putting on a lot of weight recently so I didn't want to wear one. But you seemed so happy when we all agreed to wear them. You don't smile much so I did it for you, even if I look fat, I'll be able to see you smile more" She giggled, sniffling as she did so.

"So I'll be really mad at you if you make me go back to the hospital again, I don't want to watch over you again, please get up. I can heal you with my Persona – I can heal anything" she said as she summoned her Persona

But her Persona faded when she felt his hand gripping onto hers as his grey eyes opened and looked into hers as he spoke with a raspy voice, like someone just waking up from a week long sleep.

"You think you're getting fat? I think you look much better nowadays" he said with a half-smile

"Y-you jerk; do you know how worried I was about you?" She scolded him, in truth she was just happy to hear his voice before she started blushing "You really think I look better? I was worried if I'd even fit into my swimsuit this year. We are going to the beach together this year right?" she asked him, impatiently but still lovingly

He didn't say anything in response, she knew exactly what his answer would be. Yukari didn't mind though, as the two kept squeezing each other's hand, taking it in turns. As Yukari's hand squeezes became harder and harder, Minato's kept growing weaker until there was almost no response from his hands, just as Yukari was about to open her mouth, Minato spoke.

"You were wondering why I smiled when you told me? It's because I love you" he said, his words growing more and more inaudible until the final words were only a whisper, a whisper that only Yukari was able to hear. His hand began to slip from her grasp


End file.
